Jake Lynch let off scott-free.

Well as we expected , Jake Lynch has been let off scot-free for his shocking behaviour during the guest visit to the University of Sydney by Ret.Colonel Richard Kemp on March 11th this year. During this event Lynch exhibited what to us is seen as antisemitism. It appears that the USYD sees otherwise.

The Australian Jewish News reports that they spoke with Lynch on Wedensday who said that he was “relieved and delighted” to have been cleared of serious misconduct, and that the threat to his position at the university had been lifted.

“I am particularly pleased to have it confirmed that no aspect of my behaviour represented any form of anti-Semitism,” he said. “Members of the Jewish community should know that my actions are motivated solely by a wish for peace with justice for both Israelis and Palestinians.”

Jake Lynch is no stranger to controversy. In November 2012, Lynch declined a request by an Israeli academic, Professor Dan Avnon, to name him as a University of Sydney contact on his application for a Sir Zelman Cowen fellowship, which underwrites exchanges between the University of Sydney and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, citing that he believes in the BDS and therefore was boycotting Israeli universities and academics.

In an exclusive interview, Professor Avnon broke his silence to tell ‘The Australian’ he believed Professor Lynch deserves a “red card” for refusing to sponsor him because the Sydney academic supported the international Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaign against Israel.

Investigation into behaviour of staff, students and members of the public on campus on 11 March 2015

26 May 2015

The University of Sydney today reported on the outcome of its further investigations into the conduct of individuals during the incident at the University on March 11, 2015.

The University had previously identified that the conduct of various individuals (staff, students, contractors, affiliates and members of the public) fell short of the standards required by the University.

Those individuals were the subject of confidential investigations, whereby they were asked to respond to the University’s concerns about their behaviour.

A number of members of the University community and the public were found to have engaged in unsatisfactory conduct, as a result of which disciplinary action, including counselling, warning and suspension of access rights to the University grounds have been imposed.

University disciplinary processes are still underway in relation to five students (both protestors and members of the audience).

The University will not comment on the outcomes for any individual due to the confidentiality of the investigation process, and privacy rights of those individuals. It does not propose to make any further statement in relation to this incident.

The ‘Sydney Staff for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions’ article on the issue is worth the read just to highlight the anti-Israel, read antisemitism in their ranks.

SSBDS welcomes management’s decision to end the disciplinary process against Lynch. It brings to an end a politically motivated two-month investigation, initiated in response to pressure on the university from pro-Israel forces.

The Israel lobby has long sought the scalps of pro-Palestine academics such as Lynch. “Peter Wertheim, Alex Ryvchin, Dean Sherr and other spokespeople for pro-Israel organisations cynically saw an opportunity to attack one of their ideological opponents,” said David Brophy from SSBDS. “The fact that the University of Sydney has rejected their allegations is a blow against Zionists’ intimidation of Palestine activism in Australia.”

This case must be set in the context of a worldwide upturn in the use of accusations of anti-Semitism to intimidate and silence pro-Palestine voices on campus. In the first four months of 2015, Palestine Solidarity Legal Support recorded 60 instances at US universities where criticism of Israel was met with accusations of anti-Semitism. This unscrupulous tactic of conflating criticism of the Israeli State with anti-Semitism has done great damage to the need to identify and combat genuine racial discrimination, including anti-Semitism, in society.

Claims that Palestine activists at Sydney are anti-Jewish have been the go-to argument of Lynch’s critics. After Sydney University responded to the allegations of anti-Semitism by launching an investigation, The Australasian Union of Jewish Students leapt into action by emailing its members a set of misrepresentations and fabrications, among them that Lynch “shouted in the faces of Jewish students” and that he “has a history of supporting harassment and discrimination against Jewish students.”

In addition it launched a petition for Lynch’s sacking, arguing that “anti-Semitic behaviour, harassment, and intimidation have no place in Australian society and they certainly have no place at the University of Sydney.” Even after the charge of anti-Semitism was found to be groundless, AUJS’s Julian Kowal maintained that Lynch had compromised the university as a “safe space for Jewish students”, for which he should be dismissed.

In this light, Dean Sherr’s recent claim that AUJS’ campaign against Lynch does not rest on a complaint of anti-Semitism stands exposed as a scandalous bid to rewrite the factual record.

Peter Wertheim has stated that “the charge of antisemitism is not levelled lightly,” but the barrage of irresponsible op-eds smearing as Lynch as anti-Semitic suggests otherwise. Under the headline “Antisemitism on Campus: Has Sydney University’s Jake Lynch Finally Gone Too Far?”, Glen Falkenstein included Lynch’s actions in a discussion of “anti-Zionism”, “which through its manifestations and rhetoric clearly can serve as a mask for blatant antisemitism.” In The Australian, Peter Baldwin continued along the same lines, saying: “My sense is that increasingly anti-Zionism is a mask for occulted anti-Semitism.” In recent weeks such insinuations have continued to flow freely from the pens of Lynch’s critics.

“The Israel lobby’s resort to these plainly baseless accusations highlights their lack of any real arguments against Palestine justice activists,” said David Brophy.

“These lobby organisations are dedicated to preventing a free and informed debate on the question of Israel/Palestine from occurring in Australian society. Sydney University should strive to ensure that such a debate can take place on campus by resisting these vexatious attacks. The institution’s commitment to academic freedom, which has been reiterated a number of times with reference to Lynch, requires that it do so.”

“We welcome the end of the proceedings against Lynch,” added Nick Riemer from SSBDS. “The University should be congratulating Jake for promoting the cause of a just peace in the Middle East, not threatening him with the sack for it. It’s now time for the University to drop all its charges against the student protesters too.”

Peter Wertheim, the Executive director of the ECAJ – The Executive Council of Australian Jewry said that until it is known what disciplinary action has been taken against anyone, it’s hard to come to a conclusion about anything, as the University statement refers disciplinary action which includes “counselling, warning and suspension of access rights to the University grounds”.

There is no mention of dismissals or reprimands. He says if the disciplinary action does not include the latter, it would be very disappointing, and it would reflect poorly on the University in the enforcement of its own standards.”

Thanks for drawing my attention to the New Matilda post on Natale’s retraction/clarification on Israel. Perhaps Natale and the Greens could vigorously tackle the exclusivity of the numerous Islamic States that exist. In fact so exclusive are some that you are not even permitted entry to visit if you are a Jew. Now that’s very elite.They might include Japan for scrutiny since you cannot become a citizen even if you marry a Japanese. And especially not if you’re a Korean. Israel has some 25% non Jewish citizens and is considered exclusive????? Give us a break.

A free and informed debate is exactly what the so called demonstrators at the Kemp fracas prevented. They were armed with pamphlets from the Syd Uni staff for BDS campaign issuing from the so called Centre for Peace and Conflict Resolution. The pamphlets advertised weekly meetings at the Centre at lunchtime on Tuesdays. They lie when they say what they want is a free and informed debate. What they want is to silence any opposition. They are happy to support Hamas that tortures and murders Gazan Palestinians and Abbas who prefers that Palestinians in Syria die at the hands of ISIL rather than give them shelter on the West Bank. Their cynicism knows no bounds as they pretend to push for a just peace when Abbas’ parliament declares that Israel has no claim on any land.
Sydney University is seeking to reduce undergraduate degrees and cut spending. One solution is to sever the Centre which proudly announces it has financial support from other sources when it needs to defend Lynch, and an abundance of volunteers. It therefore has no need for taxpayers’ money

The loony left don’t want free speech, that’s as plain as the nose on your face.
If you attempt to post anything on their web sites or Facebook pages you are banned and comments never make the light of days.

I written to the Editors countless times pointing out that they are always the first to claim they are being denied their freedom of speech, yet they are the first to deny others theirs.

One of my favourite photos of Lynch shows him snuggling up to the leader of Students for Palestine. Both wear kafiyot. It’s really sweet to see the director of the Centre for Peace Studies under the shade of a kafiya. Lynch may aspire to be Lawrence of Arabia. I prefer to call him an incarnation of Herr Goerring. Enrol in Lynch’s ‘peace journalism’ course and learn how to lie. Even the Vice Chancellor at Syd Uni rued: if you say it often enough, it becomes the truth. One of the course’s staffers claim to fame is being prosecuted for parading in a nun’s habit wearing a sign that she had been f-cked by god’s steel pr-ck, Vulgar disrespect? Mental derangement? Good heavens no. A proud item on her CV. A feminist defender of freedom. In Sydney, she was merely prosecuted. Elsewhere she would have been buried up to the neck in her hijab and stoned to death. On reflection, that’s what happens to female adulterers. What do you think they do to blasphemers? Such itsy bitsy details are no obstacle to unwavering support from the Centre for Peace.

I feel sick to the put of my stomach looking at any photos of Lynch. Likewise with Porsolt and Slesak.

I attended three pro-Gaza rallies last year, to have more of a shock at what I saw, than I expected.

To hear the rhetoric against Israel by all three was nauseating. To hear them espousing the virtues of the non-existent State of Palestine and the suffering of a fictitious people is quite something else.

To hear Slesak tell of his parent’s internment during the Holocaust and then to support the regimes which were in league with the Nazis is most distressing.

To hear ‘dear’ Vivienne’ stand up and proudly announce “I AM A JEW” before 5,000 people and to hear the cheers and delight at those words by these people, I cannot describe what that did to me.

Years ago, after an evening’s discussion on Jewish attitudes to evolution where Peter Slezak gave a paper, I commented on the high quality of such events at Mandelbaum. His comment was, ‘They are not my people.’ While Vivienne makes propaganda capital out of her Jewish identity I suspect that ‘dear Vivienne’ might share the same attitude. Thank goodness for divorce.

You may know there is a book launch at 6.00 on 10 June at 377-383 Sussex Street. The book argues why there should be no boycott of Israel. No doubt your favourite people like Vivienne and Slezak will be there announcing that their Jewish identity is no bar to hatred of Israel. And probably Lynch will be there luxuriating in the triumphant news that he is not an anti-Semite but wouldn’t mind the dissolution of Israel, its Jewish identity and the odd slaughter or bus bombing of Israelis. But on no account is he is an anti-Semite. Repeat after me: Jake Lynch is NOT an anti-Semite.